Stay With Me
by harryHEARTginny
Summary: James Potter and Lily Evans are in their 7th year at Hogwarts, and are finally dating. The story starts on the day Lily finds out her parents were killed be Death Eaters, and, well, we'll see what happens from there.
1. Chapter 1

**These characters and settings don't belong to me but J.K. Rowling**

**Chapter 1**

Lily and James were sitting beside each other during breakfast in the Great Hall. James looked at the sky and noticed that the clouds were very dark and thick. _Looks like it's going to rain,_ he thought to himself. He then turned her attention back to Lily, and the three other Marauders, who were sitting across the table from them.

"So, are we going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" Sirius, aka Padfoot, asked the group at large.

Lily looked up at James. "I don't know, are we?"

James smiled at her. She was so beautiful he could hardly stand it. He had been so elated Lily had finally agreed to go out with him at Christmas, and now, its mid-march and they were still together, he couldn't see how life could get any better. "Only if you want to go."

Just then the post arrived. A hundred owls flew through the window, showering everyone with water from the rain that apparently had started to pour down. A brown Tawny owl dropped a letter in front of Lily before flying off back out the window, into the rain. Lily looked at the letter curiously before she opened. James watched her as she read. The longer she stared at the parchment the paler she became.

"Lily, what's wrong?" James asked, worried. Lily had frozen; her eyes were filled with shock and pain. Suddenly, without warning, Lily stood up and ran for the door, leaving James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter to look after her, worried. James noticed she had left the letter on the table, and hurriedly picked it up to find out what had gotten Lily so upset. As James read the letter he could feel the shock becoming evident on his face.

"James what's the matter, what's happened?" Remus sounded worried. James put the letter on the table, in front of his three mates so that they could read it for themselves. He didn't think he would be able to read it out loud.

_Dear Miss Lily Evans,_

_It is with a heavy heart that I bring you this news. On the evening of March the 8__th__ your parents were the victims of a Death Eater attack, the regretfully did not survive. Your sister, Miss Petunia Evans, fortunately, was not home at the time, we have informed her of the event that has taken place. I offer you condolences on the behalf of the entire Ministry of Magic._

_Sincerely,_

_The Minister of Magic_

James had left the Great Hall before the other Marauders had even finished reading the letter. He ran frantically into the Entrance Hall, trying to figure out which direction Lily could have gone in. He was about to make his way down one of the corridors to where the closest lavatories were, when I glimpse of red out the window caught his intension. He turned to look out the window, to make sure he hadn't imagined Lily's hair. He hadn't, it was defiantly Lily running outside in the pouring rain.

James hurried back to where the Entrance Hall doors were; he opened them and searched the grounds for where Lily had gone. The wind was blowing the rain at a slant towards him, causing the water drops to blur his glasses. But, after a moment of frantic searching he spotted her heading towards the lake. He was stunned for a moment. _She wasn't going to through herself into the water, was she,_ she didn't. Lily stopped right at the edge of lake, she looked up at the stormy sky, and James thought he heard her scream, but he couldn't be sure, the storm was to loud to tell. Lily then dropped to her knees, and buried her face in her hands.

James made his way as quickly as he could to where she now knelt. Lily did not look up when James came up beside her, whether this was because she hadn't heard him over the storm, or she couldn't bear to, James didn't know, nor did he care. He knelt down beside her, ignoring the muddy ground beneath him, and wrapped his arms around her shaking frame.

"It's my fault, it's all my fault." Lily choked, shaking her head.

"Lily," James whispered, shocked. How could she believe that the death of her parents was her fault? "This did not happen because of you."

"Then why did this happen?!" She looked up at him. He could see a little bit of anger in her emerald green eyes, but mostly, he just saw extreme pain and sorrow. "If I wasn't I witch they wouldn't have killed my parents. James, my parents were killed because I'm a witch, a Muggle-born witch! It's entirely my fault!" She broke down into sobs again, and James picked her up into his lap and held her close. He gently began to rock her back and forth.

"Lily, listen to me." James whispered gently into her ear. "This isn't your fault. You are meant to be a witch, you always have. Your parents were not killed because you are witch. They were killed because Voldemort is an evil man who likes to hurt people. You had nothing to do with it."

Lily didn't say anything; she just sat in James arms while the rain continued to pour down on them, soaking through their robes. James didn't know if Lily's silent meant that she believed him, or if she just wasn't in the mood to argue anymore.

"James?" James thought he heard something determined, maybe even cold in her voice.

"Yes, Lily."

"Promise me that when we are out of Hogwarts, you will always stay with me."

"I promise, Lily." And he meant it. He didn't ever want to leave her side; he wanted to be with her forever. "Come on, it's cold, we should go inside." James helped Lily get to her feet.

**Please Review. I would love to hear your thoughts, and constructive criticism.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

When they got back to the castle classes had already begun. James walked with Lily back up to the Gryffindor common room. He could tell that she was in no mood to go to her classes, and he wasn't going to leave her alone while she was this upset. So, he took her over to the couch by the fire, and sat down with her. She rested her head on his chest, while he conjured up a blanket with his wand, and draped it over her.

They spent most of the day together like that, mostly in silence. Every once in a while though, Lily would start crying, and James would whisper words of comfort in her ear, or gently rub her back. He felt bad for her; he couldn't imagine the horror of finding out that both your parents had been murdered. Although, he could relate with the pain of losing a parent, his Dad had died just that summer. But he had been old, and James had seen it coming. For Lily, though, it was entirely different, this was both her parents unexpectedly murdered. He couldn't relate to her pain in the slightest.

-

It is now later on in the evening. James was able to convince Lily to go down to the Great Hall and eat something at dinner, though it did take a while. Lily had seem to be completely unwilling to leave James' side, but he finally got her to go with her friends up to her dorm for some sleep. James was up in his own dorm with the rest of the Marauders.

"So do you think she's going to be all right?" Moony, Remus, asked James from his spot on Sirius' bed. The four boys had sprawled themselves across both James and Sirius' beds.

"I think she'll be alright." James answered rubbing his eyes. He was exhausted, more emotionally than physically, though. "I don't know how long it will take, though. I mean, I know that if I found out that both of my parents were unexpectedly murdered, I would be pretty messed up for quite some time. Although. Lily has always been stronger than me, in that sense at least."

"I'm sure she'll pull through just fine, mate." Padfoot encouraged his best friend. James gave him a weak smile before yawning.

"Well, guys, I could really use some sleep." Wormtail, Peter, scrambled off of James's bed and back to his own so that James could lay down. He fell asleep just moments after resting his head on his pillow.

-

It has now been four days since Lily found about her parents murders. James can tell that she is still very upset by this, but now, as they sat in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express, she was showing no signs of her grief. The day after Lily had found out about her parents she went back to her classes, and to anyone who didn't know her like James did, she seemed completely normal, like nothing had ever happened. But she wasn't over her grief, not even close, James could see that easily. Her usually bright green eyes were dull, and lifeless. When she laughed, he could detect some force behind it. It hurt James to watch her try so hard to act like nothing was wrong, when it was obvious to him that she was in much greater pain than she wanted to let on to anyone.

The train had left the station in Hogsmeade a couple of hours ago and James and Lily were sharing a compartment with Padfoot, Moony, and Wormtail, and Lily's best friends Mary and Alice. Moony, Padfoot, Mary, and Alice, where talking animatedly about their plans for the holidays, Wormtail was listening with extreme interest. James was watching Lily sadly as she stared at the scenery flying by the window. She would do this every once in a while, for the most part Lily would try to keep up with her act that everything was perfectly normal, but sometimes, she would cave in to her grief, and stare into space for a long period of time, until someone called her back. James would prefer it that people leave her alone to her thoughts. All she really needed to do was get her thoughts organized, and work through her grief, and he figured that this was her way of doing it. But if people continued to interrupt her, it could take a lot longer than it would have to.

Lily was going to be spending the break at James' house, since her home was destroyed by the Death Eaters, and there was no way in the world that he was going to leave Lily alone at Hogwarts during the holidays. James knew that he could have stayed at Hogwarts with her, but he didn't want to give up a chance to see his mum. He had already lost his dad the previous summer, and, by the looks of it, his mum wouldn't be with him for much longer either. She wasn't in a horrible condition at present, but it was evident that her body was getting worse for wear every day, though she could still walk around. So, he told Lily that she could spend the break at his house, and she accepted gratefully.

Lily snapped out of her trance a few minutes before the train arrived at Platform 9 ¾. "Hey, James, where do you live anyway?" Lily asked, turning her head away from the window to look at him.

"I live in a little house on the northern coasts of Kent." Out of the corner of his eye, James saw Sirius trying to stifle a laugh at his statement, James smiled to himself. Lily just nodded, she probably hadn't noticed Padfoot.

A few minutes later they had gotten off of the train and were saying good-bye to everyone. After their friends had left their separate ways James noticed Lily looking around. "Where's your mum?" She asked.

"Oh, she wasn't able to meet us." James replied simply. "We're going to Apparate to my house. Is that alright with you?"

"Yeah, sure, that's fine by me."

James picked up both of their trunks and instructed Lily to hold tight on to his arm so that they could use Sidelong Apparation to get to his house. She did as she was told, and a moment later, after the slight bit of discomfort that Apparation usually causes, they were standing outside of James' house.

James heard Lily gasp beside him, and he smiled slightly to himself.

"You call this a _little_ house? James, this place is a bloody mansion!"

It was true, there was no way someone could truthfully describe the Potter house, or mansion, as little. It was four stories high and had eight chimneys. Inside, there are nine bedrooms, and six bathrooms, among various other rooms.

Lily was laughing now, and James was glad to hear it, because it wasn't the heart breaking forced laugh he had been hearing for the past couple of days, but the easy beautiful, crystal laugh, which he loved so much.

"This is unbelievable! I Have never seen a house so HUGE before!" Lily exclaimed, grabbing James hand and running for the door. James left the trunks outside, he would get them later. When James opened the front door and Lily walked in, he swore he thought she was going to scream. The inside of the Potter Mansion was even exuberant than the outside. It had a beach colour theme, to go with its location, and everywhere there hung beautiful nature paintings, all hung in the same simple black frame.

"Lily, remember you need to breathe." James whispered into her ear, for it seemed she had forgotten about that in all of her excitement. In response Lily laughed at herself and took a deep breath. "So what do you think?" James asked, taking Lily's hand and leading her to the kitchen.

"I think that this has to be the most amazing house I have ever seen in my life!"

Just then, an older walked out the door James was Leading Lily to. She was short, with grey hair pulled in to a bun at the back of her head. Her face was lined with age, but her eyes, hazel coloured, like James', still showed the spirit of a young woman."

"James your home, I thought I heard you! Oh, and this must be Lily." She embraced James and kissed him on the cheek. Then she turned to Lily. "You know, I have been waiting to meet you for the longest time. It seems like the only thing I have ever heard James talk about for the past six years is you."

James laughed, though there was a slight pink tint to his cheeks. "Mum you know that you love to exaggerate."

Lily was trying to hide her giggles, but wasn't succeeding.

"Well," Mrs. Potter said, clapping her hands together. "Are you two hungry? Come into the kitchen and I'll whip up some dinner for you."


End file.
